How do growth-aspiring entrepreneurs respond to their national contexts? Socio-cultural norms, income per capita and government regulations seem to underlie such responses. We associate the effect of the entrepreneurial responses, growth responsive post-materialist, situated-optimism and resource-constrained with these aspirations. An analysis of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data from 2001 to 2010 found that low levels of regulatory support, sociocultural norms do not affect a nation’s entrepreneurial growth aspirations when income per capita increases. However, when there are high levels of regulatory support the opposite is true. We provide a nuanced perspective of how government regulations, societal norms and resource availability influence entrepreneurial growth aspirations. Policymakers who wish to target growth-aspiring entrepreneurs must ensure that they design regulations with short response times for permit and license applications, a light tax burden, increased predictability and regulations with which the entrepreneur can adequately cope. If these factors are not evident, entrepreneurial growth aspirations will not be evident, even when socio-cultural norms are supportive and resources are readily available.